For most of us the ordeal would be too great and the temptation to give up too pressing. Cruelly losing both legs and all your fingers to a disease would leave the strongest-willed asking why.

But when that happens in your teenage years the agony must be unbearable.

Remarkably Dominic Snaith has overcome such trauma, and is now using his experiences to help others.

Eighteen months after his body was wracked by meningitis Dominic is walking and even swimming after mastering the art of his false limbs.

Now he is using what he went through to warn others of the early symptoms of the disease as he joins a campaign for next week's Meningitis Awareness Week.

Today Dominic, 19, of Great North Road, Gosforth, Newcastle, said: "I have been through it and know what it is like.

"If I can stop this happening to someone else then it is worth me talking about my circumstances."

The Gosforth High School pupil, who is studying three A-levels, is working with the Meningitis Research Foundation to raise awareness of the `Red Flag' symptoms in order to save lives.

The foundation paid for a national study of children who had meningitis and septicaemia - blood poisoning - which identified early symptoms commonly seen by parents and family doctors.

If recognised in an ill child, these early symptoms are a `flag' that medical attention is needed so that life-saving treatment can be given in time.

The `Red Flag' early symptoms include cold hands and feet, limb pain, and pale or mottled skin. These symptoms typically occur some five to eight hours before the classic textbook symptoms of rash, neck stiffness and impaired consciousness.

Dominic had all the early stage symptoms but did not link them to meningitis at the time.

He said: "I had been on a school trip and on the coach coming back I felt aches and pains. I had cold hands and feet and had flu symptoms.

"I was sick and when I got home I went to bed and thought I felt a little better.

"It was the next morning I got the symptoms we all associate with meningitis - that is the rash.

"I went to hospital and they found I had contracted meningococcal septicaemia and was in intensive care at the Newcastle General Hospital. When I woke up from my surgery I was heavily sedated.

"It didn't quite sink in that I had both legs below the knee amputated and the fingers off both hands.

"It was a while after the operation before I cried. I was just shocked and angry.

"But that has all changed now. About three months after the operation I got my false limbs.

"It all happened quite quick for me - although it didn't seem like it at the time.

"I have got better and better walking on them and I have just stopped using my stick.

"Although I had my fingers amputated I can still write.

"I am left-handed and those fingers are down to the knuckle, so I can still hold a pen.

"I'm doing my best to get on with things. I am starting to join in with my friends more and I can even swim now. I have got my life back."

Dominic, who raised #1,600 last year after completing the Great North Run in a wheelchair but walked over the finishing line, added: "This campaign is really worth while.

"If people know the symptoms then maybe they can avoid getting limbs amputated.

"The earlier a person gets to hospital, the better. It happens so quick and people have to know the early symptoms.

"This is why I am backing the campaign so people can be saved."

Denise Vaughan, Meningitis Research Foundation chief executive, said: "The foundation is delighted to have funded the study which identified the `Red Flag' symptoms as early diagnosis is crucial.

"This disease can progress so fast that within a few short hours of the initial symptoms being present a previously healthy child or adult could be in intensive care fighting for their life.

"During our Awareness Week Meningitis Research Foundation aims to save lives by alerting people in the Newcastle area to the `Red Flag' symptoms and encouraging them to get their free symptoms information now from the foundation's helpline."

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Danger signs to spot

Red flag symtons:

Cold hands and feet

Limb pain

Pale or mottled skin

Symptoms of Meningitis:

Severe headache; stiff neck*; dislike of bright lights*; fever/vomiting; feeling drowsy and less responsive/vacant; rash; seizures (fits) may also be seen. (*Unusual in young children)

Symptoms of Septicaemia:

(This form of the illness often starts with non-specific flu-like symptoms):

Tense or bulging fontanelle (soft spot on head); blotchy skin, getting paler or turning blue; refusing to feed; irritability when picked up, with a high pitched or moaning cry; a stiff body with jerky movements or else floppy and lifeless.